AS SSD

AS SSD is one of the few benchmarks that was actually designed with the SSD solely in mind. It tests with many of the same metrics that are included with Crystal Disk Mark with the notable inclusion of latency measurement. AS SSD tests latency with a 512B file size at a Queue Depth of one, while the industry specification is actually 4k QD1.

AS SSD testing consists of incompressible data in the main benchmark. There is testing with varying levels of compression with one of the subtests. We will not be including that test as the Barefoot processor performs the same regardless of the compressibility of the data.

The AS SSD results show the same relatively good low QD write performance and the lack of scaling with the 4K random write speed. This result is a hallmark of previous generations of SSDs. These relatively low scores are miles ahead of even the fastest HDDs on the market.

Anvil Storage Utilities

Anvil Storage Utilities is the other premier SSD-centric benchmark. Anvil measures the file system performance with a variety of file sizes and focuses on providing latency measurements for each type of data access. This is very important, as latency is the key advantage that SSDs have over their HDD competitors. Latency is the driving force behind that feeling of "snappiness' from the attached storage.

Anvil also has other built-in utilities that test with more specific user defined parameters. Threaded read and write testing is possible with manual QD settings. There is also an endurance application and the ability to test with varying levels of compression. Anvil also does a great job of illustrating the type of system and drivers used in the testing of the storage right on the face of the benchmark screen. This can help when comparing results with different drivers and firmware revisions.

Overall, the SSD performs within expected parameters for this paring of controller and NAND.

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